Category Archives: Chicago Event

‘His Name is John’

Celestial Event, Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Community, Festival, History, Insight, Poetry, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Speaking with the Stars, Upcoming Events
Nativity of Saint John the Baptist,
Zechariah writing, “His name is John”.
Pontormo, on a desco da parto, c. 1526.

The Festival of St. John’s Tide starts on the fixed date of June 24, the birthday of John the Baptizer

The name John is really a title, it represents a certain level of initiatation – the best of humanity, devoted to what is beyond the little self, alive to the revelation of the spirit. At the center of history, the summons of JB was to turn inward, & confront the lower self. St. John’s Day is a perfect time to re-assess & re-balance ourselves in this metanoia.

~hag

In the prologue of the Gospel of St. John the Evangelist right after we hear the ‘Word’ in the beginning, John, the 1st Adam is proclaimed. This Gospel emphasizes the divine spark in humanity, & connects us to its supreme form as the Logos Himself. The ‘disciple whom Jesus Loved’ received the forces of the beheaded John the Baptist, at the rising of Lazarus, earning him the title John as well.

The Last Old Covenant Prophet: John the Baptist and Forerunner of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ | Baptism of christ, John the baptist, Orthodox icons

Just as the Son of God who was buried in matter is born again in Jesus of Nazareth – So it is for every individual human being – there is a mighty experience, which may be called the birth of the higher self – The divine Ego is born of the striving human being. Awakening to Initiation is possible, & when it is taken up, life as we know it, opens to new dimensions.

When the human principle in Jesus of Nazareth had reached its highest development, & his body had become an expression of the spirit within him, he was ripe to receive the Christ in the Baptism by John. His body had unfolded its full power, like the radiant Sun at Midsummer.

ABSTRACT SUNSHINE OF HAPPINESS textural impasto palette knife oil painting detail Ana Maria Edulescu Painting by Ana Maria Edulescu
Ana Maria Edulescu

This had been prophesied. The spirit was to be born out of the darkness, like the Sun which increases in power towards solstice, waxing strong until St. John’s day, & then begins to move inward.

JB was able to behold the approach of Jesus of Nazareth, as the increase of the Sun, & say ‘I must decrease, as the Sun decreases after midsummer day.’ But The Christ as the spiritual Sun will increase, & ‘his Light will shine forth from out of the darkness.’

Duccio — Google Arts & Culture
Duccio

It was the Baptist’s mission to proclaim this: ‘He who was announced by the prophets of old, the Son of the spiritual realms, born of the spirit, behold, He hath appeared.’

John the Baptist is ever active since this turning point of time. He has lived many a life of renunciation, then, he came to prepare the way, thru baptism. And when we ‘make straight the path’, the inner spirit-light can shine forth ever more brightly, reflecting the Christ light.

This is how the universal Ego of humanity is reborn in freedom, & the condition fulfilled for the rebirth of the individual higher self in every human being.

This is the most vital event in the evolution of each individual human: the rebirth of the immortal being which can issue forth from the ordinary Ego. This is inseparable from the greatest of all events, the deed of Christ on Golgotha ‘As the meaning of the Earth‘.

Gustave Moreau

Dear friends, Be awakened! There are forces trying to distract us from this truth – working to prevent us from becoming divinely human. May we be alert to the signs, & vigilant in our striving to practice Spiritual Science.

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Orthodox icon of St John the Baptist GOLD LEAVES 22k | Etsy

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

24 June 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: A power packed Planetary line-up for this Feast Day of John the Baptizer

Sunrise: 5:32 A.M. – Moonrise: 2:35 A.M. – Moon Phase: Waning crescent (19%)

collage by ~hag

Feast Day of John the Baptist. Rudolf Steiner revealed his other lives as Elijah, Raphael, Novalis in GA 120 & in the Mystery Dramas. Steiner also gave indications that he was the 1st Adam, & that he is an inspirer of John the Evangelist/Christian Rosenkrantz.

Battle of Bannockburn - Wikipedia

1314 – First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn

The Mysterious Phenomenon of Dancing Plague ~ Psy Minds

1374 – A sudden outbreak of ‘St. John’s Dance’ causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations & begin to jump & twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion

The History Press | Freemasonry: The first Masonic Grand Lodge

1717 – The first Freemasonic Grand Lodge is founded in London. Benjamin Franklin was a member.

6 Reasons Why Napoleon Invaded Russia

1812 –Napoleon invades Russia

Mary Pickford at the Op? | MuskokaRegion.com

1916 – Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to sign a million-dollar contract

Walther Rathenau assassination... - RareNewspapers.com

1922 – Assassination of Walther Rathenau, a German statesman who served as Foreign Minister during the Weimar Republic.

1938 – A 450 metric ton meteor hits Chicora, Pennsylvania

1976 – Deathday of Rudolf Kreutzer entrepreneur, anthropsopher

2004 – In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional

Lonesome George Was the Last Pinta Island Tortoise

2012 – Lonesome George, the last subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise, dies

20 Brief Facts about the Life and Death of St. John the Baptist [+TEST] - The Catalog of Good Deeds
Sergey Metelitsa

St. John’s Poem:
Hot horns of light
Frame the dreaded Forerunner…
Wild Pan the Baptist
With wort & rue in his pouch
Carob & raw honey on his breath,
Anoints the mistletoe
In the oak-grove.
The God has gone into the grain
The Sun is on the water
The edge of the rioting rose
Begins to melt
Its scent is heavy on the heat
Stealing the breath
From the hot mouth of God
Her infer-red ruby steams
The magnetic stains of light
To guide the Summer-Tide Soul
Into the labyrinth
Where the Oak King crests
And gives way
To the Dark Holly Twin
~hag

Friday 24 June 2021 – St. Johns-Tide Bon-Fire & Prep-Stir Social Gathering
7 pm CT Pot-Luck Dinner at the Home of Hazel Archer & Chuck Ginsberg

Join Rev. Jeana Lee in a St. John’s contemplation by the fire

Please Bring Food & Drink to Share in Community

This is an offical ‘Merry Prepstir‘ synchronized application,
linking us to Biodynamic workers around the world,
so that ‘The Earth May Be Healed’.
We will be working with BD 500 Horn Manure & 501 silica 

RSVP for address & directions

The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC
           The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
July 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)

“We may describe the astral body as an egotist. This means that every path of development that aims to liberate the astral body must recognize the interests of humanity by expanding and becoming progressively wider in scope. Indeed…it must become interested in the whole earth and all humanity.”~ from Chapter 17

Focus of the July 6 meeting: Rudolf Steiner,The Mysteries of the Holy Grail, Chapter 16 “The Word in Chains,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Dornach on 11 March 1923 (GA 222, lecture I)
AND
Chapter 17 “Balancing the Soul,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at The Hague on 26 March 1913 (GA 145, lecture VII).A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 16 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link.A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 17 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link. * 

Please consider giving to the development and maintenance of the digital library of Rudolf Steiner’s work.  Scroll to the bottom of this message to read more about the RSArchive.org and SteinerLibrary.org

The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided among two volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.

This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.”  The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010.

This will be a Zoom conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer).  To connect to the audio/video-conference:

Video Conference Details:Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106

If you have questions, please contact Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com 

Agenda for this meeting (Central Time)
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Stefano – chapter 16
          Camille – chapter 17
7:50  Conversation
8:25  ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
Regelio de Egusquiza

Deepening the Grail: Our Parzival Quest and Question

Workshop & Annual Meeting with The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Saturday 16 July 2022
In-person at the Rudolf Steiner House in
Ann Arbor & on Zoom

Join anytime between 2 pm ET – 5 pm

& then for the AGm from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

NO COST for attendees 

The Parzival Quest, is calling to humanity at this time of the Consciousness Soul. Explore aspects of this Quest through art, and movement, via embodiment processes and sensing gestures in the tangible and intangible sheaths of being human. Inspired by devout anthroposophist, artist Michael Chekhov, and guided by CRC member, Chekhov master teacher Lisa Dalton.

Then stay for supper and for the Central Region’s ‘Annual Meeting’—we haven’t had one since 2019, so it’s about time to fill you in on what’s happening!

Alberto Loya is stepping down from the CRC. He’s been with the Council since 2009—thank you for your many contributions, Alberto! We look forward to sharing memories and tributes during the meeting.

And Mary Mertz who has been working with the CRC for the last year will be offically inducted onto the Council.

2:00 pm ET– Welcome, singing, Chekhov movement, biography work
3:30 – 3:45 pm ET– Break
3:45 – 5:00 pm ET – Our Parzival Quest and Question
5:00 pm ET – Be our guest for dinner
6:30 – 7:30 pm ET – AGM – We will be bidding farewell to Alberto Loya & welcoming Mary Mertz, as well as giving reports on 2020 and 2021.
 
The CRC: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton, Alberto Loya,
working with Mary Mertz 

 Please RSVP  to Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com

If you can’t attend the workshop, we hope you can join in the
Annual Meeting.

Let us know whether you’ll be attending in person or via Zoom.
  
To inquire about accommodations at the Rudolf Steiner House,
contact Cynthia Chelius cynthia@anthroposophy.org

Zoom meeting info (please note — passcode required)
Jul 16, 2022

The zoom can be accessed from 2 pm. You are welcome to attend all or part of the workshop. The main event will be the Parzival Quest from 3:45 pm – 5 pm Eastern Time & the AGM 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86449905249
Meeting ID: 864 4990 5249
Passcode: 923117


Renewing the Mysteries:The Founding of The Christian Community & the Burning of the First Goetheanum
Spring Valley, NY
August 8-13, 2022
REGISTER NOW!* lectures * artistic workshops * conversation * evening performances
I will be offering a program on Tuesday 9 August for the Free Initiative 2:30 -3:30 pm ET
Many anthroposophists have understood the 1923/24 Christmas Foundation Conference as constituting a renewal of the Mysteries. Nine months after the Christmas Conference, speaking to the priests of the Christian Community, Rudolf Steiner pointed to a sequence from the founding of the Christian Community in September 1922 to the burning of the Goetheanum at the end of that year to the Christmas Conference.In this 100th anniversary year of both the founding of the Christian Community and the burning of the Goetheanum, can an exploration of these events help us to understand the nature of the New Mysteries?

The keynote speaker is Daniel Hafner, priest of the Christian Community. He will address this theme with a particular focus on the colored windows of the First Goetheanum.

The Act of Consecration of Man will be celebrated during the week and there will also be a Class Lesson for members of the School of Spiritual Science.

Venue: SPRING VALLEY, NY, Threefold Community
and The Christian Community
*REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND THIS EVENT: A conference on the scale currently planned requires that a minimum number of participants register by July 20th.

INFO OR QUERIES: Rev. Paul Newton paulknewton@msn.com
(845) 517-4101

Sponsored by The Christian Community Spring Valley Area and the Threefold Branch of the Anthroposophical Society

Upward Streaming

Biography, Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Community, Festival, History
Bethel Nortel

~In my mind
I scoop up the blue virtue of sky & set it in my heart
Then my fingers fly out & circle above like a hawk
Serpents writhing in purposeful talons
Tempered by a 1000 doves
Feathering the clouds into a white fire
& I weep, for without love or loss or pain
I would never learn peace…
~hag

collage by ~hag

“The teachers in the Mysteries said: “Every year at Midsummer, a solemn offering must be made to the Upper Gods in gratitude for the thoughts they vouchsafe to humanity; for if this is not done, it is all too easy for the Luciferic powers to invade man’s thinking and he is then permeated by these powers.

He can avoid this if every Summer he is mindful of how the Upper Gods have given him these thoughts, and at the Midsummer season lets his thoughts flow back again, as it were, to the Gods.” In this way the men of olden times tried to safeguard themselves from Luciferic influences.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is summer-solstice-circle-pp.png
collage by ~hag

The leaders of the Mysteries called together their pupils and enacted that solemn rite at the culmination of which the thoughts that had been revealed by the Upper Gods were now offered up to them in upward-streaming feelings.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is smoke-music-pp.png
collage by ~hag

The external rite consisted in solemn words being spoken into rising smoke which was thus set into waves. This act was merely meant to signify that the offering made by man’s inmost soul to the Upper Gods was being inscribed into an outer medium — the rising smoke — through form-creating words.

collage by ~hag

The words of the prayer inscribed into the rising smoke the feelings which the soul desired to send upwards to the Gods as an offering for the thoughts they had revealed.” 

~Rudolf Steiner, The Spiritual Communion of Mankind 

collage by ~hag

“…Now, man must learn to know the etheric and astral elements outside himself. This he can do only through the reverent deepening of spiritual science…

This is what Anthroposophy intends when it speaks of a renewal of the festivals…

We must come once more to an inner understanding of what the cycle of the year can mean to humanity in this connection; it can then be something even loftier than it was for man long ago”…~Rudolf Steiner, The Cycle of the Year as Breathing-Process of the Earth

~hag

Leon Fitzgerld

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Near the Solstice, the twilight lingers well past 9 o’clock.

Tyler Hamzeler

18 June 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The Big Dipper hangs down by its handle high in the northwest. Spot the star at the end of its handle, the highest one. That’s Alkaid, the tail of Ursa Major.

Now spot the Sickle of Leo much lower and in the west. The brightest star about two fists upper left of the Sickle is Denebola, the tail of a different carnivore: Leo.

About one third of the way from Alkaid to Denebola is a fainter star: Cor Caroli (Alpha Canum Venaticorum).

And what is two thirds of the way down that line? Nothing? Look again, maybe in a darker sky. You’re looking into the big, dim Coma Berenices star cluster. The cluster’s brightest members form a sort of upside-down Y.

Ayse Domeniconi

Feast Day of Archangel Uriel

Crater creator

1178 – Five Canterbury monks see the  Giordano Bruno crater  being formed. It is believed that the current oscillations of the Moon’s distance from the Earth are a result of this collision

1812 – War of 1812 began when the U.S. declares war on Great Britain, Canada, & Ireland

1815 –The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte

Museum « Musée Wiertz Museum » – Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

1865 – Deathday of Antonie Wierz – Belgian romantic painter & sculptor

Ingrid Foster Author on Twitter: "Women, vote today and make an old woman proud - Thank you, Susan B Anthony , Elizabeth Cady Stanton and all the Suffragettes for marching, protesting, and

1873 – Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote

The Surprising Empress | ChinaFile

1900 – Empress Dowager Cixi of China orders all foreigners killed, including foreign diplomats & their families

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia - Wikipedia

1901 – Birthday of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov of Russia

1916 – Death day of Helmuth von Moltke, said by Steiner to have been Pope Nicholas I.

RS art 9, 21, 24

1924 – Rudolf Steiner travels to Koberwitz & Lauenstein to give the curative pedagogy lectures

18 | June | 2018 | Reverse Ritual

1929 – Deathday of Michael Bauer – German teacher, author , lecturer, president after Carl Unger of the Anthroposophical Society

Appeal of June 18, 1940 - Consulat Général de France à Boston

1940 – Appeal of 18 June by Charles de Gaulle

Enemy of Marijuana – Richard Nixon | Loopy Lettuce

1971 – President Richard Nixon declares that illegal drugs are “public enemy number one”, which becomes popularized as the “War on Drugs“.

OurPresidents on Twitter: "President Jimmy Carter and General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. #OTD, June 18, 1979. @CarterLibrary: https://t.co/g7435qZr7c ?:

1979 – In Vienna, President Jimmy Carter & Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT)

1983 –Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space

Friday 24 June 2021 – St. Johns-Tide Bon-Fire & Prep-Stir Social Gathering
7 pm CT Pot-Luck Dinner at the Home of Hazel Archer & Chuck Ginsberg

Join Rev. Jeana Lee in a St. John’s contemplation by the fire

Please Bring Food & Drink to Share in Community

This is an offical ‘Merry Prepstir‘ synchronized application,
linking us to Biodynamic workers around the world,
so that ‘The Earth May Be Healed’.
We will be working with BD 500 Horn Manure & 501 silica 

RSVP for address & directions

The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC
           The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
July 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)

“We may describe the astral body as an egotist. This means that every path of development that aims to liberate the astral body must recognize the interests of humanity by expanding and becoming progressively wider in scope. Indeed…it must become interested in the whole earth and all humanity.”~ from Chapter 17

Focus of the July 6 meeting: Rudolf Steiner,The Mysteries of the Holy Grail, Chapter 16 “The Word in Chains,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Dornach on 11 March 1923 (GA 222, lecture I)
AND
Chapter 17 “Balancing the Soul,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at The Hague on 26 March 1913 (GA 145, lecture VII).A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 16 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link.A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 17 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link. * 

Please consider giving to the development and maintenance of the digital library of Rudolf Steiner’s work.  Scroll to the bottom of this message to read more about the RSArchive.org and SteinerLibrary.org

The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided among two volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.

This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.”  The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010.

This will be a Zoom conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer).  To connect to the audio/video-conference:

Video Conference Details:Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106

If you have questions, please contact Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com 

Agenda for this meeting (Central Time)
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Stefano – chapter 16
          Camille – chapter 17
7:50  Conversation
8:25  ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
Regelio de Egusquiza

Deepening the Grail: Our Parzival Quest and Question

A day long Workshop & AGM with The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Saturday 16 July 2022 – In-person at the Rudolf Steiner House in Ann Arbor & on Zoom

2 pm – Welcome, Singing, Chekhov movement, Biography work

3:30 – 3:45 pm – Break

3:45 – 5 pm – Our Parzival Quest and Question

5 pm – Be our guest for Dinner

6:30 – 7:30 pm – AGM – We will be bidding farewell to longtime member Alberto Loya & welcoming Mary Mertz onto the Council

The CRC: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton, Alberto Loya, working with Mary Metz

Please RSVP to Mary Metz mary.mcginnis@juno.com

To Inquire about Accommodations at the Rudolf Steiner House Contact Cynthia Chelius cynthia@anthroposophy.org

Farm to Table

Biography, Calendar of the Soul, Chicago Event, Community, Festival

https://www.patreon.com/zinnikerfarm

Today on this May Day – Beltane –We are hosting a Farm to Table Dinner at the Chicago Christian Community Church, as a Benefit to support the Zinniker’s – the oldest Biodynamic Farm in America. Without much effort, just an evite, 57 folks have responded YES!

After returning from Santa Fe, I was informed that well we had no ‘chef’, sooo, guess who’s cooking for almost 60 people! Yep, for days now, besides trying to digest & write up my impressions from the Sophia Rising Convergence, our little kitchen has been working it…

22 lbs of slow roasted Biodynamic Chuck Roast, 18 lbs of ground beef to make my famous meatloaf – 2 bio chickens for soup, I don’t even know how many lbs of potatoes from Petra’s garden…salad fixings…weee…Luckily we have 2 other friends making quiche from 4 doz Zinniker eggs, & rice & veggies to round out the meal (Thanks Leslie & Sheila)…My beloved husband Chuck made 14 loaves of bread this morning, & Petra will bring her famous chocolate mousse for dessert…

Perhaps in the fall we will feature their turkey & pork…

Right now I’m still trying to figure out how everything can come together & be hot for the serving…We still need to set up the space that Rev. Jeana Lee has graciously let us use at the Church. My best friend Philip Armetta, will play Classical, Jazz & Blues Guitar to start us off. Ultra-Violet Archer will perform a set on her lopper after the dinner, & Petra & Mark Zinniker will give a talk about what’s happening on the farm & how we can help make it sustainable.

Spiritual Science tells us that Biodynamic Agriculture will not only spiritualize the Earth, the nutrition received by the human being enables those who eat this spiritualized food to be able to truly think in freedom!

Even if you live far away from Elkhorn WI. where this family farm is doing this work, you can know that a spiritual vortex is rising up from this sacred land into the Earth ethers we all share. So you too dear friends are invited to make a financial contribution. All proceeds go directly to Zinniker Farm to help sustain their legacy.

Please help support this important initiative: Zelle: chuck@chuckginsberg.com or Venmo: https://www.venmo.com/u/Chuck-Ginsberg

We are looking forward to a heart-stirring community gathering. Blessings on the Farmers, on this May Day 2022…https://familyfarminitiative.com/

~hag – the kitchen witch of Beltane present

1 May 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars:” Look west an hour after sunset on May 1st to find Comet PanSTARRS, the Pleiades, Mercury, Orion’s Belt, and more.

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
EASTERTIDE III
The Self’s Foundation
v3
The human spirit speaks.
The growing I, in self-forgetfulness
and mindful of its primal roots,
is speaking to the whole enwoven world:
“In you, releasing my subjective chains
of private wants and pains,
I fathom my life’s inborn truth”.

After Easter the human I is called upon to forget its personal self,
freeing it from subjective passions and desires, on the path to finding
and resurrecting its higher self, its true being, rooted in cosmic being.
Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

304,384 Dew Stock Photos, Images | Download Dew Pictures on Depositphotos®

Listen to the May Day Podcast at ‘I Think Speech‘

Greetings friends – Yes that was me out sipping dewdrops from the lilacs at sunrise – just one way to participate in the magical reality of May 1st – the fixed date of what we call the Cross-Quarter on the Wheel of the Year, between the Spring Equinox & the Summer Solstice – called Beltane by the ancients, the Festival of joyful growth & fecundity, heralding the promise of Summer. (The actual cosmic Cross-Quarter date is May 5th this year)

Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Beltane is the Festival Season of the ‘Good Fire’ or ‘Bel-fire’, named after the Solar Deity Bel: “Bright and Brilliant Regenerator”, “Protective Shepard”, “The Fiercely Shining One”, & “The Hospitable Boar Chieftain”.

Terresa Blackwell

Tradition has it that all hearth fires were extinguished on Beltane Eve, & then kindled again from the sacred “need fires” lit on Beltane. People would leap through the smoke & flames of the Beltane fires, & also drive their cattle thru them for purification, fertility, prosperity & protection.

Bel is a Pan-Celtic & Gaulish god of light revered all over Europe. Bel was also known as ‘Bile’ in Ireland, meaning ‘Tree of Life’. Besides being a solar god, Belenus was also known to be a ‘Rainbow rayed healer’ & there are healing springs that are associated with him.

Howard David Johnson

Rudolf Steiner, when lecturing about the Mystery Schools, speaks of this time as being ruled by the healing Archangel Raphael.

Kelly Benzel

In terms of the Archetypal cycle, Beltane marks the union of the female & male polarities, bringing new life to the earth. It is a traditional time for Hand-fastings (a marriage union for a year & a day), & was a time for couples to make love outside to bless the crops & the earth.

Maurice Pendergast

Maypoles were often danced around at Beltane to bring fertility & good fortune. The addition of ribbons, which came later, wrapped around the pole by the dancers, bring a further sense of the integration of the complimentary energies, mirroring the union between the God & the Goddess. Beltane is a time to devote energy to growth & integration – a time to celebrate, exuberance & hope, when we can enjoy & appreciate the gifts of nature.

Beltane is a Celtic re-newal of an even older Sabine (ancient Greco-Roman) festival, ‘Floralia‘, which celebrated the goddess Flora & the blossoming of Spring into Summer, especially associated with vines, olives, fruit trees & honey-bearing plants.

Cernnunos, the earthly god-force present at Beltane, is a Triple God who is Green Man, Great Father, & Nature Deity. As the “Antlered Horned Forest Lord”, “Leaf Faced Greenery Father”, & “Primal Landscape Goddess Consort”, he was known by many names thruout the ages on the European continent & the British Isles.

Cernnunos was seen as master of the hunt, & protector of nature – A creative mentor of animals, nature spirits, & woodlands, This Green God is also a magical craftsman & initiator of the mysteries, considered a Netherworld Threshold Guardian – & pyschopomp.

Maerten van Heemskerck

Originally Beltane was a ‘Movable Feast’ gauging the condition of the crops & flowers, under the command of a Sibylline Oracle, with the purpose of gaining from the Goddess the protection of the blossoms.

Festive games, bringing folks out from their winter hibernation, were played in honor of the Goddess Flora; with pantomimes, & street theatre. The people of all classes wore their brightest clothes, all decked out in flowers –even the animals were garlanded. Goats & hares representing fertility were let loose about the village or town. In Piedmont Italy, the Bride of May carries the ‘maggio’, a green branch garlanded with ribbons, fresh fruits & lemons. Rome must have looked particularly beautiful at this time.

Gift-giving for the season included vegetables as tokens of sex & fertility. (Use your imagination) In fact, the origins of the ‘Floralia’ are associated in Greece with Aphrodite in her aspect as the goddess of Love & flowering plants, even before the festival found its way to Italy.

Sophie Anderson

Choosing a May Queen & King is a big part of celebrating May Day. A young girl dressed in white represented the Goddess in her maiden aspect. The merry month of May & the word maiden both come from the same source, a word which simply means young.

In some English Villages, the maiden is called Maid (or May) Marian & this is considered Robin Hood’s holiday.

Deborah Macbride

Anyone who went out into the woods & found a branch of flowering hawthorn would bring it triumphantly into the village (the tradition of ‘Bringing in the May’) & announcing the start of planting season. But beware – for bringing hawthorn into the house, also invites the fairies in, & some of these ‘little folk’ can be tricksters, so it’s important to have a good intent.

Sometimes flowers were given as messages: plum for the glum, elder for the surly, thorns for the prickly, pear for being popular.

Tomas Caldoros

In Eastern Europe, a young man would go into the woods on May Eve, dig up a young flowering tree, decorate it with ribbons & colored eggshells, & plant it outside the bedroom window of his sweetheart.

In Scandinavia & Germany, May trees are also important for animals, & are set up beside the barn door, one for each baby animal in the stable.

When I was growing up my Italian grandmother on my father’s side would celebrate May Day by tying lemons & ribbons around the flowering branches of the Dogwood tree & the grapevines in the backyard. She would laugh & say “More May wine for the God-Dog.”

In Italy, my Strega Nona told me, Maypoles are called ‘alberi della cucagna’ (trees from the land of milk & honey) there were no ribbions, instead folks would have prosciutto, mortadella, cheeses & money dangling from the top. She told stories of how when she was little the men of the village would try to get these prizes by climbing the pole which is greased with lard. Eventually the grease wears off & someone gets the prize.

A similar custom is found in Wales. In English villages, the Maypole is often decorated with a broom or bush & brought in from the woods with girls riding astride it.

Ty Bo

In ancient Ireland, where my Mother’s people are from, I’ve heard tell, there was a ‘Sacred Tree named Bile’, which was the center of the clan, or Tuatha. As the ‘Irish Tree of Life’, the Bile Pole, represents the connection between the people & the three worlds of Bith: The Skyworld (heavens), The Middleworld (our world), & The Netherworld.

Bringing the social realm together with the sacred, the more modern Maypole circle dancing, with it’s weaving in & out, of the colorful ribbons plaiting them as they go – helped people flirt & mingle socially – & also raised energy in a patterned & focused way.

Barie Pecko

Even today in some towns & villages a ‘mummer’ called Jack in the Green (drawing from the Green Man), wears a costume made of green leaves as he dances around the Maypole. The role of the Green Man is the re-greening of the world –

He also represents –The Fool – another archetype of Beltane – a symbol of the beginning of beginnings, & the ever present help of the spiritual world, which comes to those who have a clear head,  as well as the idea of the emergence from the void of nothingness (winter)

Peter Etril Synder

In England, May Day was all about Morris Dancing & Mummer’s Plays -The larger-than-life leaping of the Morris dancers serve as charms to show the crops how high to grow (similar dances were done in early Roman times) & the clashing of their sticks represent a ritual battle between Winter & Spring.

The mummer’s plays feature interesting characters like: Green George, & there’s always a hobbyhorse, cockhorse (or dragon), a male dressed as a female, a jester & sometimes chimney sweeps with their brushes. I remember hearing a storyteller speak about how the hobbyhorse has coal under his skirts, with the goal of running after the young women who were eligible maidens, to mark them with the coal. Only those marked can dance around the Maypole.

Sometimes when the play portrays a battle between the Seasons, Spring squirts Winter with water & seizes the garland from Winter & presents it to the May Queen.

Karry McFall

We have to remember that Beltane, is a precarious time; the crops are still very young & tender, susceptible to frost & blight. The folk in those days, being close to the land, felt strongly that the Wheel of the year would not turn without human intervention; So they did everything in their power to encourage the Sun & the elemental powers, by acknowledging & working with these energies.  

Wilka Welders

Besides Fire, Water too has special properties on May Day. A Mother Goose rhyme tells us:
‘The fair maid who, the first of May
Goes to the fields at break of day
& washes in dew from the hawthorn tree
Will ever after handsome be.’

Pinterest

Other Celtic stories suggest using the dew found under oaks or on ivy leaves. Folks would make a special wish as they washed their face in dew, or as they drank from a well before sunrise. The first Sunday & first Monday in May are traditional days for ‘dressing’ – decorating & honoring the local wells or water source.

This is an important association of Beltane, for water is rejuvenating – vital to life. It is said that if you bathe in the dew gathered before dawn on Beltane morn, your beauty, health & happiness will flourish thruout the year.

Another way to bring in the Fire element is to make May wine flavored with herbs, berries, fruits or flowers. I remember a friend who always made a traditional May wine with sweet woodruff.  

Marije Berting

At Beltane the Pleiades star cluster rises just before sunrise (during wintertime the Pleiades rises at sunset) This cluster of seven closely placed stars, the seven sisters, is in the constellation of Taurus. Spiritual Science associates the higher astral aspect of the bull with the Dove or Holy Spirit.

And right now Mercury & Venus are part of the conversation.  Soon Jupiter & Saturn will be in on the dawn sky show. Wintry Sirius still twinkles very low in the southwest in the evening twilight.

Brent Borup 

Friends, as we stand on the Greening Earth, bringing our prayers & intentions for new growth into our actions, we can also rise in our thoughts to meet the cosmic forces – the inspiration & origin of our fertility…

See you in the sacred grove
xox

~hag

Wednesday May 4th 7 pm PDT on ZOOM for the Sacramento Faust Branch

From Necessity to Freedom – The Evolution of Human Consciousness

From the vaporous cleft of Mount Parnassus, and the birth place of Greek Philosophy, to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, and the Holy Grail – From Prophesy to Warning, from Fate to Karma, From Destiny to Free Will.

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast. Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & as the Central Regional Council representative on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Past Video Recordings

We appreciate your support of the ongoing work of The Faust Branch in making these offerings available. Admission for lectures: Faust Branch members $5, non-members $10. No one excluded for lack of funds. Admission fees may be made via PayPal

Join Zoom Meeting – Conversation 6:45 pm PDT, Presentation 7 pm PDT
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‘Let Freedom Ring – Reclaiming the Wisdom of Columbia – Folk Soul of America’.

A zoom presentation with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg For the Greater Washington Branch of the Anthroposophical Society

1 pm ET – 2:30 pm ET Saturday 14 May 2022

Join Zoom Meeting:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86119386116

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Email asgwb.dc@gmail.com with any questions

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast. Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & as the Central Regional Council representative on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Past Video Recordings

Easter’s Planetary Parade

Biography, Calendar of the Soul, Celestial Event, Chicago Event, Community, Festival, History, Quote
spiral-sun-being

“A jubilant breath pervades the prayers of Easter, expressing itself twice, as with inward necessity, in the word “rejoice”…First, the breathing soul-sphere of the whole planet rejoices, that renewed cosmic sphere of sunlit clouds, air and wind into which the earth grows in Spring; then, the inward life of man, touched by the Risen Christ, rejoices too. We recognize the wide span of the soul at Easter: it comprises the outward and the inward world, macrocosm and microcosm.” – excerpt from “The Three Years” by Emil Bock.

CG & hag attending the Easter Sunrise at the Magic Hedge. We arrived in time for the Easter parade of planets: Jupiter, Venus, Mars & Saturn all in a row…Our human evolution inscribed in the heavens as the herald of the culmination of the Christmas Conference.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Kristena West

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated with added titles by Roy Sadler

HOLY WEEK
Communion In The Body
v52
When from the depths of soul
the spirit’s drawn towards the beauty
arising from the springlife’s cosmic harmony,
then streaming from the heavens
life’s force invigorates the human body
and powerfully binds
the spirit’s being to the human presence.

And so by experiencing the vibrant beauty of the spring
and the Cosmic Spirit’s life force streaming through us,
we can rejoice in the bliss of Easter by uniting with the light,
the Light Being of the Christ. May the Sun commune with us!

EASTER
In Unison With Light
v1
When streaming from the cosmic spheres
the sun to human sense is speaking
and joy from depths of soul
is with the light as one in seeing,
then drawn from sheath of self
thoughts rise to far horizons
and dimly bind
the human being to the spirit’s presence.

485 – Death-Day of Proclus – dubbed ‘The Successor’ – a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher. He studyed mathematics & the works of Aristotle under Olympiodorus the Elder. As a gifted student, he eventually became dissatisfied with the level of philosophical instruction available in Alexandria, & went to Athens, the pre-eminent philosophical center of the day, to study at the Neoplatonic successor of the famous Academy founded 800 years earlier (in 387 BC) by Plato; there he was taught by Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus, & Asclepigenia; he succeeded Syrianus as head of the Academy, & would in turn be succeeded on his death by Marinus of Neapolis.

He lived in Athens as a vegetarian bachelor, prosperous & generous to his friends, until the end of his life. He was not appreciated by the Christian rulers; he spent time traveling & being initiated into various mystery cults. He was also instructed in the “theurgic” Neoplatonism, as derived from the Orphic & Chaldean Oracles.

His house has been discovered recently in Athens, under the pavement of Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, south of Acropolis, opposite the theater of Dionysus. He had a great devotion to the Goddess Athena, whom he believed guided him at key moments in his life. Marinus reports that when Christians removed the statue of the Goddess from the Parthenon, a beautiful woman appeared to Proclus in a dream & announced that the “Athenian Lady” wished to stay at his home. Proclus died aged 73, & was buried near Mount Lycabettus in a tomb. It is reported that he was writing 700 lines each day.

1622 – Birthday of Thomas Vaughn, a Welsh philosopher, famous for his writings in the area of natural magic, with his book Anthroposophia Theomagica, a magico-mystical work.  (Some say Rudolf Steiner got his idea for to name the AS from this treatise)

Although he did not practice medicine, Vaughan sought to apply his chemical skills to preparing medicines in the manner recommended by Paracelsus. Vaughan was also the author of tracts published under the pseudonym Eugenius Philalethes.

Vaughan was unusual amongst alchemists of the time in that he worked closely with his wife Rebecca Vaughan. He was a self-described member of the “Society of Unknown Philosophers”, & was responsible for translating into English in 1652 the Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis, an anonymous Rosicrucian manifesto first published in 1614 in Kassel.

He placed himself in the tradition of the Rosicrucian reformers of education, &of Johannes Trithemius, his teacher Libanius Gallus, and Pelagius of Majorca.

1787 – Goethe’s experience of the archetypal plant in Palermo – “Goethe narrates a conversation that once ensued between Schiller and himself after they had both attended a meeting of the Society for Nature Research in Jena. Schiller was dissatisfied with the results of the meeting. He had found there a most disintegrating method for the study of Nature and he remarked that such a method could never appeal to a layman. Goethe replied that “possibly this method was cumbersome for the initiated also and that there might well exist yet another way of portraying Nature active and living, struggling from the whole into the parts, and not severed and isolated.” And then Goethe evolved the great ideas which had arisen within him concerning the nature of plants. He drew “with many characteristic strokes, a symbolic plant” before Schiller’s eyes. This symbolic plant was intended to give expression to the essential being lying in every single plant, whatever particular form it assumes. It was intended to demonstrate the successive development of the single portions of the plant, their emergence from each other and their mutual relationship. In Palermo, 17th April, 1787, Goethe wrote these words in reference to this symbolic plant form: “There must be such a thing; if not, how could I recognise this or that structure to be a plant if all were not moulded after one pattern?” Goethe had evolved in himself the conception of a plastic, ideal form that was revealed to his spirit when he surveyed the diversity of the plant forms and observed the element common to them all.” Rudolf Steiner Goethe’s Conception of the World: Chapter I: Goethe and Schiller

1790 – Death-Day of Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a renowned polymath & a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, & diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment & the history of physics for his discoveries & theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, & the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphia’s fire department & the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution.

Benjamin Franklin, then 21, created the Junto, a group of “like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community.” The Junto was a discussion group for issues of the day; it was modeled after English coffeehouses that Franklin knew well, & which became the center of the spread of Enlightenment ideas in Britain.

Franklin became Grand Master of the Freemasons & published the first Masonic book in the Americas, a reprint of James Anderson’s Constitutions of the Free-Masons. Franklin remained a Freemason for the rest of his life

Franklin earned the title of “The First American” for his early & indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author & spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation. Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, & opposition to authoritarianism both political & religious, with the scientific & tolerant values of the Enlightenment

Franklin became a successful newspaper editor & printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at the age of 23. He became wealthy publishing this & Poor Richard’s Almanack, which he authored under the pseudonym “Richard Saunders”. After 1767, he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments & criticisms of the British policies.

He pioneered & was 1st president of The Academy & College of Philadelphia which opened in 1751 & later became the University of Pennsylvania. He organized & was the first secretary of the American Philosophical Society & was elected president in 1769. Franklin became a national hero in America as an agent for several colonies when he spearheaded an effort in London to have the Parliament of Great Britain repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris & was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. His efforts proved vital for the American Revolution in securing shipments of crucial munitions from France.

He was promoted to deputy postmaster-general for the British colonies in 1753, having been Philadelphia postmaster for many years,& this enabled him to set up the first national communications network. During the Revolution, he became the first US Postmaster General. He was active in community affairs & colonial & state politics, as well as national & international affairs. From 1785 to 1788, he served as governor of Pennsylvania. He argued against slavery from an economic perspective & became one of the most prominent abolitionists.

His colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, & his status as one of America’s most influential Founding Fathers have seen Franklin honored more than two centuries after his death the $100 bill.

1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.

1912 – Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150

1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed & trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.

1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.

Kaysha Siemens

‘Velsum’ (Victory in Wholeness) an Anthroposophical Musical Initiative
created by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer 
performing New Nightingale, New Rose on Easter Sunday

Live streaming from the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago. 

Join us in-person or online.

PLEASE NOTE: BELOW IS THE NEW ZOOM CODE

This offering will not be recorded – it is meant for Easter Sunday only.

These 2 Christened voices came together for the “Building the Temple of the Heart” 2021 ASA AGM conference & have gone on to co-create a new musical genre that they call: Ancient Futurism. This past year they have been workshopping this initiative at Angelic Organics Farm graciously hosted by Haidy & Farmer John Peterson, who have put culture back into Agriculture by building a Temple stage to host Anthroposophical events in their glorious Barn building. The Debut of Velsum occurred there on Lazarus Saturday 2022.  

Easter Sunday 17 April 2022
Doors open at 12:30 pm CDT 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, Il. 60618
NEW TIME: Performance 1-2pm CDT
Potluck Easter Feast 2-3 pm CDT

$10 or more suggested donation goes to the artists –

Chicago Friends – Please Bring Hardy Festive Food & Drink to Share

www.rschicago.org/donate please indicate that it is for EASTER

Topic: Easter: New Nightingale, New Rose
Time: Apr 17, 2022 01:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

NEW ZOOM CODE: Join Zoom Meeting
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Full Seed

Celestial Event, Chicago Event, Community, Festival, History
Sophia Takata

In the New Mysteries we follow the path of Rosicrucian/Christian initiation through Holy Week. With every step, from the recognition of the old atavistic Sun on Palm Sunday, through to the meeting of the Saturn-Spirit and The Harrowing of Hell – TODAY on Holy Saturday; we sow healing seeds, sprouted in the blood of Christ, that spark the rising of the New Sun of Easter, within ourselves and in the Universe. Each of these steps through the planetary spheres leads to a conquest of a corresponding layer in the interior of the earth. The Beatitudes are the spiritual weapon we must wield to fortify the development of self-determination in the human ego led by Christ, giving us the strength to make the darkness transparent. Like Christ, we must descend to ascend.   

Every year we have a chance to recapitulate the original Easter event. We rest on the Sabbath, Saturn-day – In Christo morimur – This is the Mystic-death or temple sleep of the initiate; remembering that In the Garden of Gethsemane – the midpoint of the earth, the epicenter of the cosmos – between the rocky hill of Golgotha, part of the lunar Mount Moriah, and it’s polar opposite the Solar Mount Zion, there was a New Tomb where the body of Christ rested, and yet it was the Oldest Tomb, for it was formerly a primal fissure, a gorge splitting Jerusalem in two, called by some Adam’s Grave –known as the gate to the underworld. 

The earthquakes of Good Friday and Holy Saturday tore open the original fissure.  The veil of the Temple “was rent in twain”. Vistas were opened into the interior of the earth. “He was lowered into the grave of the earth’, and so it was, that The Christ went into the Earth’s Interior, His blood becoming the medicine for our continued evolution. The darkness of Saturn is lit up from within by the Resurrected Sun. The Easter garden begins to bloom, so that our soul can behold, like the Magdalana before us, The Risen One as the gardener of the New Jerusalem.  

In ‘The Birth of a New Agriculture: Koberwitz 1924’ , we learn that the earth underwent a change through the deed of redemption on Golgotha, a transformation of the unruly Mars powers of rusty iron into the silvery light of Mercury. This transforming of iron thru the sacred mystery of the Christ-blood is a determining factor in the transformation of earthly substance, which will later be carried over into the transubstantiation of the earth. The spirit radiates from the heights and yet is also carried to us by the eternal divine world of the depths. ‘May there ascend from the Depths the prayer that is heard in the Heights’. 

We can send our prayer to the Christ-heart in the earth’s depths, to help overcome and redeem the adversarial powers that hold sway in the nine layers of the earth’s interior. The agricultural course was a stepping stone to this ultimate aim.  

Spiritual science tells us that when the blood flowed into the earth from the cross on Golgotha, a new Sun-globe was born in the interior of the earth. This golden earth-center is the legendary land of Shambhalla, hidden away, yet waiting to be re-discovered by the seeking, Christ-guided human soul.   

The Tomb becomes the altar, a sacred place to commune with the gods – with the souls of the departed as our intermediaries. The tomb becomes the Round table, and the Parsifal question leads us to find Christ in the etheric.   

Also working with us from the time of the Vernal Equinox is the Archangel Raphael, who holds the staff of Mercury, offering us the healing power of the Caduceus through the grace of the living Christ, who stands as the middle pillar within us all.

Before the mystery of Golgotha, the task of evolution was that the cosmos would become human, after this turning point, the human becomes cosmos -The New Sun -The imperishable resurrection-body uniting with the Cosmic- Sophia.  

~hag

Easter Morning

16 April 2022 “Speaking with the Stars”: From Jonathan Hilton:  “A first necessary step in the path of astrosophy is the cultivation of wonder when contemplating or viewing the starry heavens. I would even describe the feeling as “holy awe” when gazing at the heavens. Truly they are a glimpse of Sophia if we can lift the veil to meet Her. Though She is silent, through our development of spiritual cognition She is awakened to new life in us. This new life can begin with Imagination through which an outer image can become a living picture of divine being. When we look at the stars we are of course seeing images, or as Steiner called them, wrought work, but of course our spiritual task is to see behind the images to the reality of their being. Truly the planets and stars are images for us of being…

To go out before dawn on any Easter Sunday is always quite a special time to contemplate that original Easter when the women went to the tomb before dawn to find the stone removed and the first encounter by Mary Magdalene with the Risen One, whom she mistook for the gardener until He spoke her name. This Easter, out of this mood, we can now also look to the east and see, aligned one after the other ascending from the horizon, Jupiter near the horizon, then Venus, then Mars, then Saturn. A rare sight to behold…

One should think of the visible planet itself as merely a pointer for earthly humanity, an indicator, telling us about that whole sphere of planetary being. So, in this picture, it is as if the cosmos is presenting us the story of our whole past and future spread out in this simple line up. It is a tableau of evolution, perhaps as a challenge or a question or a reminder to us from where we have come and to where we are going, precisely because of this Easter morning deed of the Christ. It is a bit like when we perhaps contemplate our biography…where we came from and where we hope to go…before a major life event or decision…

We contemplate the Father deeds of sacrifice on ancient Saturn and our journey into separation and individuation in Mars, to our reunion with the Divine Will through love, in Venus, leading to the future New Jerusalem, in Jupiter. In this way, a simple string of four stars (planets) in the sky on Easter morning can open mighty vistas of our humanity, expanding us and inspiring us to strive towards the power of the true I AM, the Christ, in us that we might fulfill our cosmic goals.” ~Jonathan Hilton 4/16/2022 astrosophy.com

Evolution Painting by Nancy Wait

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

According to Dr. Steiner TODAY is the birthday of Aaron = mountain of strength, illuminator – born in Egypt three years before his brother Moses, & after his sister Miriam.

When the time for the Exodus out of Egypt came, Aaron was the “mouth” or “prophet” of Moses, because he was gifted speaker.

When Moses ascended the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, Aaron was permitted to accompany him part of the way, & to behold the manifestation in the burning bush.

Later the chiefs of the tribes were each required to bring Moses a rod bearing the name of his tribe. These were laid overnight in the tabernacle, & in the morning it was found that Aaron’s rod “for the house of Levi” budded, blossomed, & yielded almonds. Aaron was able to turn that rod into a snake to try & persuade the Pharaoh to ‘Let the people go’.

Aaron was considered a type of Christ figure in his official character as the 1st high priest, & was intended to lead the people of Israel to look forward to the time when “another priest” would arise “after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:20).

1889- Birthday of Charlie Chaplin, English actor, director, producer, screenwriter, & composer

1828 – Death-day of the painter Francisco de Goya

In 1944, during World War II, the allied forces start bombing for the 1st time in Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. It was Orthodox Easter.

Kaysha Siemens

‘Velsum’ (Victory in Wholeness) an Anthroposophical Musical Initiative created by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer performing New Nightingale, New Rose on Easter Sunday

Live streaming from the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago. Join us in-person or online.

PLEASE NOTE: BELOW IS THE NEW ZOOM CODE –  AND NEW TIME –
(Please disregard the last notices & use the new link to register for this event even if you think you have already registered – sorry for the confusion) 

This offering will not be recorded – it is meant for Easter Sunday only.

These 2 Christened voices came together for the “Building the Temple of the Heart” 2021 ASA AGM conference & have gone on to co-create a new musical genre that they call: Ancient Futurism. This past year they have been workshopping this initiative at Angelic Organics Farm graciously hosted by Haidy & Farmer John Peterson, who have put culture back into Agriculture by building a Temple stage to host Anthroposophical events in their glorious Barn building. The Debut of Velsum occurred there on Lazarus Saturday 2022.  

Easter Sunday 17 April 2022
Doors open at 12:30 pm CDT 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, Il. 60618
NEW TIME: Performance 1-2pm CDT
Potluck Easter Feast 2-3 pm CDT

$10 or more suggested donation goes to the artists –

Chicago Friends – Please Bring Hardy Festive Food & Drink to Share

www.rschicago.org/donate please indicate that it is for EASTER

Topic: Easter: New Nightingale, New Rose
Time: Apr 17, 2022 01:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

NEW ZOOM CODE: Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 859 6497 5651
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Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kb1j1PB3WRFor more info. contact Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel@ReverseRitual.com